Mindfulness

Yesterday was the first day of the holy month of Ramadan when our Muslims friends start to fast during the day. As I was eating breakfast in the office, a Muslim colleague came in and I realize that I should refrain from eating in the office. So, during our lunch break when another colleague asked me to pack lunch for her to eat in the office as she needed to complete her work, I told her to go out for a quick lunch with me instead. Often, we think only of ourselves and are not mindful of how our actions would affect other people.

In our daily life, we can practice mindfulness in a number ways such as letting the car that is stuck behind a stalled car to come into our lane, giving our place in the queue to a mother with a crying baby and putting the garbage into the garbage room instead of leaving it on the floor outside the room.

During our yoga practice, we also need to be mindful at all times so that we are present and have focused awareness. Having focused awareness means that we are aware of a discomfort in the pose and at the same time know how to recognize and react to the pain.  Listening to our breath or doing a variation to the pose means that we are mindful.

Be mindful of the knee not hyper-extending and be mindful of the body’s weight on the arms and lifting the hips into the air to float back into plank and of the hips not collapsing lower than the shoulders. Be mindful during our transitions in and out of the pose as injuries normally happen when we disconnect from our breath, bandhas and distri (gazing point) as we rush from one pose to another.

Mindfulness means having enough space between you and your neighbor’s mat so as not to hit each other when you do your sun salutations. Mindfulness also means switching your mobile off or to silent mode before class, not stepping on a fellow yogi’s mat when you need to cross to the other side of the room and laying down in savasana (corpse pose) before leaving if you have to go before the class ends.

"Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked." -The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali